Presenters
Marlene Bagnull
is the author of five books including Write His Answer--A Bible Study for Christian Writers and the compiler/editor of three other books. She gives Write His Answer seminars around the nation, teaches At-Home Writing Workshops, and hleps Christians publish affordably and professionally through Ampelos Press. She founded the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Fellowship in 1983. In 1997 she began directing the Colorado Christian Writers Conference.. She believes and says, "God's work, done in our own power, equals NO lasting results! You need, I need, we all need God's power to do God's work. If you long for your words to make a difference in the lives of your readers, you need to come to this year's East Texas Christian Writers Conference where y ou'll be encouraged, equipped, and renewed to write about a God who is real, who is reachable, and who changes lives!"
Terry Burns
has been with the Hartline agency for over ten years, five years as an agent, and has a substantial list of clients, a growing list of credits, and a reputation for presenting to conferences all over the country. he is consistently listed near thet op on the Publisher's Marketplace list of agents helping debut authors to publish. Terry comes from a writing background, has over 40 books of his own in print, includeing a book on the skills needed to get published entitled A Writer's Survival Guide to Publication that was developed out of the month-long course he held for ACFW. A bookstore of his available works as well as a periodic blog can be found at www.terryburns.net . As an agent Terry says, "I'm looking for a good book, well-written in a unique voice, aimed at a market that looks promising, and where I feel I have the contacts appropriate to be able to sell the book in that market. I'm pretty open as to genre but I don't do picture books, sci fix or fantasy." He's a member of the Association of Author's Representatives (AAR).
Don Burton
When you first meet (or even observe) Donald W. Burton, you are instantly aware that he is distinctly different and not your average person. Don's sincerity and passion for life and living, combined with his energy and ability to encourage people around him, has made him a sought-after motivational speaker. He is a recording artist, songwriter and CEO of ViewCity Records. He owns and operates a recording studio and is the founder and CEO of GMMG International, a multimedia company headquartered in Longview, Texas. He has been writing songs since he was in grade school. Don has always had a passion for music, singing and putting poems to music in his head from an early age. He wrote his first song in the tenth grade which he titled "Get Right With God" while being the choral director for the youth choir of Macedonia Baptist Church in Abilene, Texas. Don has had one book published, Lifestyles of Highly Infectious and Contagious People.
Kenneth Camp
is managing editor of the Baptist Standard, the Texas Baptist news journal (http://www.baptiststandard.com). Prior to assuming the editorial post in January 2004, he worked more than 19 years with the news and information service of the Baptist General Convention of Texas communications office, including several years as news director. He holds a bachelor's degree in English and journalism from East Texas State University (now Texas A&M Commerce) and a master's degree in communciations from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Diane, have three sons: Daniel, Matthew and Nathan. They are members of South Garland Baptist Church, near Dallas.
Kristen Clark
is a writer and contributing editor for HisWitness.org and NewBeginningsMarriage.org. Her articles have appeared in several online journals and print magazines, while her inspirational short stories have been published in various compilation books, including Women in HIgh Def: Boldly Living Your Purpose with Vibrant Clarity and Chicken Soup for the Soul. She is also a sought after speaker known for captivating listeners with her inspiring workshops and delivering practical advice for fellow writers.
Lawrence J. Clark
is Associate Professor of English at East Texas Baptist University, and is an author, speaker, and songwriter who frequently speaks and performs in schools, churches, and libraries; his fiction and poetry have been published in numerous print and online journals and anthologies. He is also a Certified Personality Trainer (CPT), manages a weekly blog for the CLASS Christian Writers Conference, and writes a regular column based on personality theory, marriage and relationships, and Christian living for NewBeginningsMarriage.org.
Victor Dela Cruz
graduated with highest honors at DePaul University in Chicago with a Master's of Science degree in Information Architecture. He worked for almost two decades as a consultant for a Fortune 1000 company and then his own technology consulting business. During those times, he also served as an adjunct faculty at DeVry University in Chicago, Illinois, and Irving, Texas. In 2007, Victor moved to Dallas to pursue a Master's degree in Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary and follow his passion in leveraging technology to make Bible study easier and more effective and meaningful. He currently works for Ministry Development at Logos Bible Software as a Conference Speaker and a Logos trainer.
Cindy Anne Duncan
lives in Marshall, Texas, with her three dogs and one cat. She is the mother of three grown sons and is a grandmother, "Boo-Boo," to her granddaughter Charley, her little "Missy Boo-Boo"! She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Tyler, with a double major in Guidance and Counseling and Sociology. Ms. Duncan was a Social Worker for 20 years before becoming a published author and columnist. She writes to enrich and inspire humankind. She believes the following speaks her heart and commitment to life, not only for children, but also for adults and even animals as well, "Every child deserves the right to hold their head up high with dignity and pride, and no one has the right to take that away from them."
Currently, Ms. Duncan is a columnist for the Marshall News Messenger. She is working on her second children's book in The Grace Anne series. The series is projected to be 12 volumes. You may go to www.graceannebooks.blogspot.com or www.goodsoundpublishing.com to follow Cindy Anne and learn of her adventures with Grace Anne, one of her three dogs. Grace Anne and Ms. Duncan have so much fun going to schools and sharing the message that words count, they matter, and they can even hurt others. She and Grace Anne are passionate aout life, love our world and all that we are blessed to have in it. Ms. Duncan is a true Southern girl, as well, and as Grace Anne's "mother," she helps her learn the important lessons in and about life.
Author Cindy Anne is also working on a Romance novel which she never thought she could write. She listened to the whisper, the calling, and she is answering her call. She regularly writes for newspapers and other publications. She has submitted her first travel/destination article. She has also just recently completed a journal project, with a group, which she envisions as an inspirational play modified someday to describe her adventure in journaling.
Mike Farris
is a literary agent with Farris Literary Agency, Inc. (www.farrisliterary.com) and an entertainment attorney with the Dallas, Texas, law firm of Vincent Lopez Serafino Jenevein, P.C. (www.vilolaw.com) As an agent, he has placed several award-winning novels for publication, including Balaam Gimble’s Gumption by Mike Nichols, winner of the 2004 Texas Institute of Letters John Bloom Humor Award, and Dreams to Dust: A Tale of the Oklahoma Land Rush by Sheldon Russell, winner of the 2006 Langum Prize for Excellence in American Historical Fiction. Mr. Russell’s mystery novel The Insane Train (St. Martin’s Minotaur) was selected by Publisher’s Weekly as one of the top six mysteries of 2010. Mike represents various university presses and has successfully placed subsidiary rights to their published books, including negotiating the sale of movie rights to producers and Hollywood studios.
As a book writer, Mike collaborated with television journalist Murphy Martin to write Martin's memoir, Front Row Seat: A Veteran Reporter Relives the Four Decades that Reshaped America, for Eakin Press, and with rodeo cowboy turned actor/director/producer Robert Hinkle to write Hinkle’s memoir, Call Me Lucky: A Texan in Hollywood, for the University of Oklahoma Press. Mike’s novels Kanaka Blues, a Hawaiian thriller, and Manifest Intent, a legal thriller, were published by Savant Books and Publications of Honolulu.
Mike is also an award-winning screenwriter. His screenplays Live From the Boneyard and The Incident on Ni’ihau are in development with Sweet Revenge Entertainment of Beverly Hills, and his adaptation of the award-winning novel Balaam Gimble’s Gumption was produced as a short film by Blue Logic Productions. Along with his law colleague Sally Helppie, who is also a movie producer, Mike is preparing to launch a new venture this fall, Tall Castle, Inc., as a non-profit production company to produce inspirational and family-friendly films. (www.tallcastle.org)
Bill Keith
is an experienced and widely-traveled journalist. A graduate of Wheaton College with a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas and a degree from the Tokyo School of the Japanese Language, Keith has authored a number of biographies, medical and inspirational books and numerous magazine articles. Before retiring he was the editor in chief of the Lone Star Eagle. He has served as a journalist for thirty years, traveling in twenty-five foreign countries, having worked as a war correspondent in Vietnam and on freelance assignments in West Berlin, Tokyo and the Philippines. He has been an investigative reporter for The Shreveport Times, city editor for the Shreveport Journal, Director of Public Relations for the Baptist General Convention of Texas and Bureau Chief of Baptist Press. For ten years he was Senior Editor for Huntington House Publishing in Lafayette, Louisiana, editing more than fifty books.
Don Piper
Best selling author, speaker, actor, syndicated columnist, former CBS & CBN Television network executive, former youth minister, education minister, senior adult minister, Baptist Student Ministry director, long-time single adult pastor and senior pastor, Don Piper has worn many hats. Having been in full-time Christian ministry since 1984, he most recently served as Minister of Education and Single Adults at First Baptist Church, Pasadena, TX. Piper is in great demand in pulpits across the United States and around the world as a conference leader on effective prayer ministry, the reality of Heaven, single adult issues and as an evangelist. He has led revival meetings and seminars all over North America and Europe.
Don Piper is a dynamic speaker and the author of New York Times bestseller, 90 Minutes in Heaven - a True Story of Death and Life (Fleming Revell, 2004). For the past three years, he has traveled across the country and around the world sharing his message of hope and healing. In 1989, Don was on his way back from a church conference when an 18-wheeler struck his Ford Escort head on. He was killed instantly - pronounced dead by four sets of EMTs. Shortly after the accident, a pastor from the same conference arrived on the scene and began praying for "the man in the red car." God worked a miracle and sent Don back to a broken body. To date, 34 surgical procedures have taken place. He walks only as a result of miraculous and in some cases medically unexplainable circumstances. During the time he was dead, Piper was granted the extreme privilege of glimpsing Heaven itself.
Don's experience in Heaven gives him a unique insight into eternity and a strong desire to tell others about Christ. His difficult recovery allows him to identify with the heartbroken and crestfallen, ministering to them with the understanding of someone who's been there. His goal is to help bitter people become better, to turn disappointments into divine appointments. He calls it “finding a new normal” and he’s made it his life’s work.
His dramatic story has been retold on such network TV programs as "The Today Show on NBC" and “The Coral Ridge Hour" with D. James Kennedy and “The 700 Club.” He has been a guest on numerous TV talk shows including Daystar’s “At Home Live,” Canada’s “100 Huntley Street,” TBN’s “Praise The Lord,” “Life Today” with James Robison, “HelpLine,” local and network newscasts, and in numerous publications across America. Recently, his book was featured in Newsweek Magazine. Now in its 41st printing, 90 Minutes in Heaven has sold more than 2.7 million copies in the United States. It also is enjoying worldwide success as a bestseller in Sweden, Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Dawn Parouse Production, a Holllywood-based film studio, secured movie rights for 90 Minutes in the summer of 2007. Don’s follow up book, Daily Devotions Inspired by 90 Minutes of Heaven (Berkeley), contains stories compiled from his extensive travel. His third book, Heaven Is Real: Lessons on Earthly Joy, from the Man Who Spent 90 Minutes in Heaven (Berkeley), was released in August 2007 and continues to do well in both secular and Christian markets.
Don Piper and his wife, Eva, live near Houston, TX. They have a daughter, Nicole, and twin sons, Chris and Joe. In addition to speaking and writing, he serves on the Board of Directors for the Far East Broadcasting Company, which sends the Gospel via radio to approximately 20 countries in the Eastern Hemisphere.
Harold Rawlings
a native of Arkansas, spent most of his boyhood years in Tyler, Texas, until graduation from high school. He holds degrees from Baptist Bible College, Bob Jones University, California Graduate School of Theology, and Louisiana Baptist University. In addition, he has served on boards of several education institutions in the United States and Germany. He is a member of the Tyndale Society and The Evangelical Theological Society. He and his wife Sylvia have five children, all of whom are involved either in full time ministry or as active volunteers in local churches.
Rawlings' first pastorate was in St. Louis where he served for six years. In his first pastorate the church grew from 33 members to an average of almost 300. A new auditorium and educational facility were completed during this time. While in St. Louis, he studied at Covenant Semianry and Concordia Semianry. In 1963 he became Association Pastor of Landmark Baptist Temple in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1984 he became Co-Pastor along with his father, Dr. John Rawlings, and later served as Senior Pastor from 1994 to 2001.
Situated on a beautiful 170-acre campus, the sprawling Landmark complex is one of the largest in the Midwest. Rawlings assisted in foudning Landmark Christian Academy in 1973, a private Christian school that provided kindergarten through 12th grade, and serve as Administrator for a number of years. A November 1969 sermon, "The World's Most Amazing Book," delivered by Rawlings to about 350 guests in the East Room of the Nixon White House, was recorded in the Congressional Record and later published, along with other White House sermons, by Harper Row Publishers.
Now associated with The Rawlings Foundation, Rawlings preaches and lectures in churches, institutions, conferences, and seminars worldwide. He is especially in demand for his lecture, "Trial By Fire," a presentation that details the fascinating and little known history of how the English Bible came to be. Rawlings' book Trial By Fire: The Struggle to Get the Bible Into English grew out of this lecture. He has authored other books--Basic Baptist Beliefs: An Exposition of Key Biblical Doctrines; The Words of This Prophecy: Messages on the Book of Revelation. His spiritual formation booklet for new Christians, "Now That I'm Saved, What's Next?" is used in churches throughout the United States.
Lexi Smith
is an established blogger with an enthusiasm for helping others use technology to enhance their writing lives. She shares her experience and resources at BloggingForWriters.com. In addition to writing at Lexical Light, her personal blog, she earned a spot as contributor to Intellectuelle, a group blog on the Evangelical Outpost website. She also writes the content for 64mascots.com. She has taught in children’s ministry, public school and home school. She enjoys living and learning with her husband Jack and their five children in Round Rock, Texas.
Jim Stafford
worked for severalyears as a technical writer and later as a technical publications editor. In 1994 he joined the Upper Room staff where he serves as associate editor of The Upper Room magazine. TUR is translated into 40 languages and reaches more than 100 countries. The Upper Room's publications and programs provide many wonderful opportunities for him to connect with readers and writers around the world each day. Jim and his spouse, Kitty, reside in a rural neighborhood near Lebanon, Tennessee. Some of his favorite pastimes are reading (mostly non-fiction), yard work, and motorcycling.
Morgan L. Tarpley
holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Louisiana Tech University. She currently works as an award-winning reporter and photographer for The Jena Times in Jena, Louisiana, where she has been since 2009. With the publication, she writers a weekly column, news and feature stories, attends town council meetings and takes photographs of local sporting events, business endeavors, school and community activities and much more. She has also worked as a freelance writer and travel agent.
Her love of writing, since she learned to hold a pen, not only turned her to journalist, but also to a love of books and a dream of becoming an author. This year she completed her first Christian novel and is currently seeking representation.
Blessed to visit over a dozen countries through mission work, collegiate study and leisure, her travels, faith and admiration of history form the backbone of her writing. She hopes her novels not only place readers in a foreign locale, but also strengthens their faith in Christ. Morgan is involved in a myriad of activities such as archery, acting, teaching photography, researching genealogy and participating in a local writing group.
She is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and is active in social media. You can find her on Twitter as "writerchic86," Pinterest, LinkedIn and Goodreads. Her blog, "Pens on a World Map," and personal website connect her love of travel and writing. Morgan resides in central Louisiana and can be contacted through Facebook, email at morganltarpley@yahoo.com or her website, www.morgantarpley.com .
Donn Taylor
is a poet and novelist who holds a PhD in Renaissance literature and has more than 20 years’ experience teaching poetry in liberal arts colleges. His poetry has appeared in Christianity and Literature, The Lamp-Post (Journal of the California C. S. Lewis Society), and other journals, as well as general audience publications such as the Presbyterian Record (Canada). His poetry collection Dust and Diamond: Poems of Earth and Beyond was published in 2008. His fiction includes a suspense novel, The Lazarus File, and a light-hearted mystery, Rhapsody in Red. He has also published essays on writing, literary criticism, ethical issues, and U. S. foreign policy. In a prior incarnation, he served in two wars with the U. S. Army.